Hello,

In holland we had a lot of bbs systems organized in FIDONET.

Bertus

 

This is a thread intended to accumulate antique words and phrases that seemed useful a long time ago.
You might think of it as a sub-category of The Jokes Thread.
Here are my start-up contributions.

Finger Hum: A form of signal generator used to test audio amplifiers. This version only had one frequency, but it was inexpensive enough that every technician had at least one in his tool kit.

Letting the Vacuum Out: Breaking off the glass seal at the rear of a CRT before shipping it to the rebuilding factory. Some rebuilders required the dead CRTs to be shipped in this condition, some refused to accept dead CRTs without the vacuum being intact.

Diddle Stick: A plastic tool with a hexagonal end, used to detune IF amplifiers in vacuum tube TVs.

I will edit this post, if and when I remember things to contribute.

Wobbulator: a primitive mechanical/electrical sweep generator

Condenser: Old name for capacitor

Mho: Previous name for the siemens....I still use it in my classes, because Mho is mo' better!

Aerial: Old name for antenna

Jugs; Old name for large vacuum tubes....generally of the transmitting sort

Goo: Radio frequency energy....because of the way it clings to conductors.

Tickler coil: adjustable radio frequency transformer

Genny: Regenerative receiver...almost always used a tickler coil.

Kilomegacycle: Old name for gigahertz

MicroMicrofarad (uuF): Old term for picofarad

Ladder Line: Parallel conductor transmission line

Rock-crusher: fond name for Tri-tet oscillator because of its aptitude for fracturing quartz crystals

Locomotive: Name for Teletype Corporation's Model 28 Teleprinter because of its sound and the amount of oil it used in operation.

Afterburner: Radio frequency linear amplifier

Cyclops: Any radio or instrument with a centrally located dial, lamp, meter. or knob. The famous Gonset "gooney box" was a prime example.

Blasting Cap: Any metal cased electrolytic capacitor, capable of explosive action when reverse polarity applied. Tantalum capacitors are notorious for this.

Widowmaker: AC/DC table radio or other instrument with one leg of the power lead going directly to the chassis.

Loincloth: A protective rubber apron used whilst performing soldering operations in pajamas, or in the nude. (I learned the value of this after the fact).

Chastity Belt: Tower climbing/rigging harness.

Three-point method: Soldering procedure consisting of a pair of needle-nose pliers in the left hand, a soldering iron in the right hand, and a sprig of solder held between the teeth. Not recommended for working on live circuits.

 

I'm not sure it qualifies as antique: elbow grease

 

Nope, though some kids find it hard to find. Try sending them out to get some.

 

Sky hook, folding ruler, log tables, running boards on cars, car starting handles, walking or cycling to school and not by schoolbus or driven by parent, calling the exchange to connect with a local number, telephone in two parts (the microphone on the stand and the earpiece separate) rawlplugs and rawlplug tool, attachement to electric drill to convert it to a hammer drill, spokeshave.

 

rawlplugs and rawlplug tool, .

That evokes memories that I would not rather have.

There is also Adze.
Max.

 

"Wobbulator: a primitive mechanical/electrical sweep generator"

Here's a different version, I put a couple of these on our (Rescue Squad) ATVs

http://www.weiku.com/products/8144936/VS2_WOBBULATOR_SELF_CONTAINED_SIREN.html

 

Some Hollywood big shots have a made a deal with Kodak so that they will continue to produce movie film. The new star wars episode was shot on real Kodak film. Probably converted to digital for editing, that's a lot more convenient. Is the real film then cut and printed to digital for distribution? I wonder. Without actual film we would never have had R2D2 which supposedly meant "reel 2, dialogue 2". Is "negative cutter" still a viable trade? So many questions.

 

microfiche

My local library still has several cabinets of fiche spools that contain local newspaper archives. It's always fun to see a newbie try to figure out how to find something. I think the librarians enjoy it too. Give the guy the spool and stand back.

 

The slide rule was mentioned earlier. The really cool guys owned a circular slide rule.

I have always thought of myself as the last living math teacher to include slide rule in the lessons. 1975, Ghana, U.S. Peace corps teacher assigned to a rural secondary school. Very smart fifth form kids and we all learned a lot of tricks on the "slip stick". One important thing that's often missing today is estimating the result so you could set the decimal point. Most high school kids today will get an answer on their calculator but have no idea if it's reasonable.

 

I have always thought of myself as the last living math teacher to include slide rule in the lessons. 1975, Ghana, U.S. Peace corps teacher assigned to a rural secondary school. Very smart fifth form kids and we all learned a lot of tricks on the "slip stick". One important thing that's often missing today is estimating the result so you could set the decimal point. Most high school kids today will get an answer on their calculator but have no idea if it's reasonable.

+1
Students read off an answer such as 1.234E-5 on a calculator and have no clue if it makes any sense.

 

Has anyone mentioned Microfiche yet?

kv

 

When you come to the fork in the road, take it.

That's a Casey Stengel quote that actually makes sense. When Mr. Stengel was giving directions to his house the way the streets were it didn't matter which way you turned at the fork because both ways circled around to the same place. BTW, isn't "directions" and obsolete term too? These days you give someone the address, they punch it into the navigation system and off they go. No more tedious directions.

 

Maps

 

Thanks for all the chuckles. One more from me, the VMS operating systems has dozens of system parameters that are mostly ignored by users but are sometimes important. Each is specified with a value and units. My all time favorite has always been: TIMEPROMPTWAIT, the length of time the system will wait during the boot sequence for input when it determines that the current time is bogus. Specified in "microfortnights". A little more than a second for one microfortnight.

 

Nope, though some kids find it hard to find. Try sending them out to get some.

Well, it was popular at one point:

 

postage stamp

 

postage stamp

I still use those too, but fewer and fewer as the last company I had to write a physical check for finally went online.

But "paper check" is going bye bye too. I suspect I've already bought the last box of them I will ever need.

 

fountain pen

 

fountain pen

Ink well.